On the evening of 24th July, GoodGym joined forces with the Friends of Lyncombe Hill Fields (https://friendsoflyncombehillfields.co.uk/) for a community task focused on raking hay. One GoodGym volunteer, enthusiastic and ready to help, collaborated with five dedicated volunteers from the Friends. The task was scheduled for an hour but we carried on for two, during which we also enjoyed a short tea break accompanied by biscuits. The primary task for the evening was to rake and collect hay. This activity is part of the ongoing efforts to maintain the beautiful green space of Lyncombe Hill Fields, ensuring it remains a welcoming environment for both wildlife and the local community. The Friends needed to remove the grass cover to allow wild flowers to flourish in the area as they are currently outcompeted by grass and nettles. Armed with rakes, pitchforks and huge bags, the team spread out across the designated area and began raking the hay into manageable piles. We followed on behind the mower being operated by one of the Lyncombe Hill Fields team and another of their volunteers, ably wielding a scythe. The weather was cooperative, with just one or two light drops of rain that did not hinder our progress. At the halfway mark, we paused for a well-deserved tea break, enjoying biscuits and chat about the fascinating history of the site and the wildlife and flowers that can be found in the area. Reinvigorated from the break, the team resumed raking with renewed energy. The volunteers worked together efficiently, ensuring all the hay was collected and moved to the designated disposal area.

Two GoodGym-ers and a hanger-on went to mow, went to mow the meadow... and to scythe and rake the recalcitrant bits the mower couldn't cope with. Bare flesh was bitten by horseflies; cowslips were spotted and the scything made their unaccustomed muscles wilt.

A wonderful evening was had in the company of the Friends of Lyncombe Field who lived up to the name with biscuits, advice, training and lots of good chat.

Great to meet newcomer Emma We hope to see you again soon :)

In what is becoming a regular GoodGym Bath community mission, last night we were back working with the Friends of Lyncombe Hill, mowing and raking long grass to encourage wildflower growth. Despite the heavy rain earlier in the day the grass was quite dry which made everything a little easier!

At the halfway stage one of the local volunteers handed out some plums that he’d grown himself which were not only great but fuelled us all for the rest of the evening’s work! I’d encourage anyone to come along to this task in future as it’s good exercise and all of the regular volunteers are incredibly friendly!”

Luke, Ellie, Meyrick and I joined the friends of Lyncombe Hill tonight to help out with their management of the area surrounding Alexandra Park. After last week's visit of raking to encourage wildflower growth, some of the local residents had become concerned regarding large piles of cuttings that had recently been cut and piled up, hence it was our job to relocate these piles!

Due to the current heatwave, the cuttings had become particularly dry and dusty which proved to be a challenge for the hay fever and asthma sufferers among us, however thanks to the provision of masks from some of the local volunteers we were able to soldier on.

Big kudos to Luke and Meyrick who were able to see out the full session and refused to be defeated by the hay fever-inducing evening!

This morning GoodGym teamed up with a bunch of volunteers from Friends of Lyncombe Hill Fields to help tidy an area of meadow.

We joined a team of rakers who were following on behind one of the FLHF volunteers who was armed with a petrol driven grass cutter, and us raking the cuttings into big piles then bagging the piles up and carrying them to the edge of the field.

This was a proper, classic GoodGym upper body workout. Made slightly more exciting by having to avoid (we failed) the stinging nettles when lifting the cutting into the bags (note to GoodGym HQ: long sleeve branded kit option...)

Along the way we managed to rescue various wildlife including a frog, a vole and various snails.

The team of volunteers made good inroads into what is quite a large meadows area, but this is very much an ongoing project for FLHF ... so hopefully we may be invited back for more of the same.